"Captain's" Log, Seventeenth Entry

Been on the road a few days now. Lot's happened.
 
We finally got paid in Fah Shan Grag, nice tidy little sum. Khallinim the Lazy (apparently Jayloa, the warlord, seems to think it's productive to pin these epithets to her raid leaders) asked if we were heading toward First Wedding, which we confirmed, and he was kind enough to offer us the service of his brother as a guide through the Trusfah Desert and the canyon they call the Great Cleaving.
 
How to describe Oriq? He's a genasi, seems constantly smoldering, and the heat doesn't seem to bother him because I've seen him just standing there in the damned sun in full plate battle dress, baking in a midday haze that would've killed another man. He's not tall like most folk we've seen here - most of them dwarf me and Caeli, some even look near as tall as Chuck - but he's more than strong enough to make up for it. Damn near shattered my wrist during our first handshake, but he doesn't need to know that. Reminds me a bit of a man I knew in Libertania, mighty and proud like a bear, aye, but with the wits of a fox, too. Dangerous combination, that.
 
He seems taken aback by just how painfully out-of-place we are in this sere and unforgiving land. I'd thought myself past the business of making a spectacle of myself for strangers, but I feel a bit of a need to impress him, prove that we're more than a match for this dangerous place he calls home. We've not seen him swing that hammer of his in true battle yet, but I'm eager to see his form - we've a bit of a wager, see who can rack up more kills before the trip is done, and I'll be damned if I lose.
 
There's a lot wrong about the way we've been traveling that he's been pointing out to us, and I'll admit, it's a marked change having a local who knows what he's about out there guiding us. We've supplies enough for the journey, several changes of clothes as the heat keeps getting more severe towards the end of the year, and someone who actually knows what ought be done in a sandstorm, so we're well equipped to handle whatever might menace us out there in the dry ocean.
 
Speaking of the desert, it's strange not being the guide for once. Waterwards of the Disc, I'm as at home in the wild as I am in the sky, but out here I feel about as lost as a child. Were it the swan-road or the Ninth Ring's azure cloak we were crossing, I could chart a course like no one else, but there's not a drop of water in this vast sea, and the sky here is like a sullen stranger, deaf to pleas for rain or mercy. When I hear thunder on the horizon, I can only imagine the booming laughter of some cruel god. And even when it's not storming, the gaze of that blazing eye that they dare call a sun here is unbearable. Even Caeli (note: stop giving her shit about standing in a fire eventually, but not yet) seems out of sorts, despite her recent experiences and her new "friend." I'm glad we at least have someone with us who knows how to deal with the worst of it.
 
The desert, as expected, was full of trials. We got stalled on the road by a suspicious caravan, and picked up a wounded messenger on the side of the road, but the worst was this sandstorm. Blew for nearly a day - Oriq says it's rare to get them this bad this early in the season - and there was nothing to do for it but find a cave and wait it out. There was this *thing* out there driving the gale on, this... thing of utter beauty. Four-armed, covered in sharp steel, as graceful on the dry desert wind as any dancer. I am not uncertain when I say it's one of the most gorgeous things I've ever seen, and seeing it was nearly the end of me. It scared Oriq shitless, and knowing what it is now, I know why. Who knows how close we came to dancing with the Pale Lady last night? All I can say is this: the gods are mad for making their deadliest creatures such wondrous spectacles.
 
We're at the precipice of the Great Cleaving now. Kurag will be a welcome shelter on our way to our rendezvous, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not itching for a fight. Something has to go wrong sooner or later, and I'd rather it happen when I'm expecting it - and besides, I want to show our new companion what we're capable of.